Associating image and location data

ABSTRACT

Location stamping of digital photos provides a convenient way to subsequently catalogue the photos. However, most digital cameras are not provided with a location discovery mechanism. To overcome this, arrangements are provided for enabling location data to be separately recorded (for example using a cell phone) at the time a photo is taken and then subsequently united with the photo.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to associating image data and locationdata. In particular, but not exclusively to enable map-based cataloguingof image recordings. As used herein, image recordings includes singlephotographs, sequences of photographs, and video recordings, all whetherchemical or digital.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Classification of photographs, particularly those taken by individualsand families, has long been a problem due to the effort involved inmaintaining any organisation of the photos. What is needed is a logicalorganisation, valid over a lifetime, that requires minimal effort toimplement and is intuitive to use when retrieving photos.

It has been previously proposed to associate location (and orientation)data with digital photos. The location data can be derived in anysuitable manner such as from a GPS system or by using informationobtained from a cellular radio system. Thus, IBM Technical Disclosure413126 teaches a digital camera provided with a GPS receiver. U.S. Pat.No. 5,712,679 discloses a locatable portable electronic camera which isarranged to send back image and location data when triggered, thelocation data being displayed on a map and the image being shownseparately. Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,934 which describesa portable locating system with a GPS unit that is operative to store atravel history of locations visited.

Other proposals go further and disclose the management digitalphotographs by using an electronic map to show a thumbnail of eachphotograph at a corresponding position of the electronic map. FIG. 1 ofthe accompanying drawings illustrates the main elements for implementingsuch an system, these element being a digital camera 3 equipped with aGPS receiver for determining camera location using signals fromsatellites 2, a PC 5 for receiving digital photographs 4 downloaded fromthe camera 3 together with GPS-derived location information about whereeach photograph was taken, an album program 6 for managing thedownloaded photographs, a store 7 for storing the digital photographs(plus location information), and a store 8 for storing map data (thestores 7 and 8 will generally be internal to the PC 5 but may byexternal). Such an arrangement is described, for example, in JP10233985A.

The combination of location-tagged digital photographs with map-baseddigital photograph albums should greatly facilitate the management ofphotographs for the ordinary user. However, it is important that thephotograph management systems provided with the map-based electronicalbums are also flexible and easy to use. In this respect theabove-mentioned JP 10233985A describes the possibility of the userclassifying each photograph whilst JP 8335034A discloses the use of anicon to represent groups of photographs on a map display.

A drawback of current proposals for map-based albums is that theyrequire the location information be associated with the digitalphotographs in the camera; however, appropriately equipped cameras arepresently not widely used. One proposal for alleviating this problem isto enable the user to set in location data directly into the electronicalbum in respect of any photograph that lacks this data. This may beacceptable for the occasional photograph but impractical for largenumbers of photographs.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to facilitate the useof map-based electronic albums with cameras (and other recording means)that are not equipped with location-determining means.

JP 10023398-A (Kazutoshi) describes van-mounted image and positionrecording devices with the images recorded by the image-recording devicebeing correlated with the position measurements by timestamps.

Certain embodiments of the present invention described hereinafterutilize data bearer services and location services of cellular radionetworks. Such networks are widespread though the afore-mentionedservices are only now being taken up significantly. To facilitate anunderstanding of the embodiments of the invention that utilize theseservices, a brief review of cellular network technology and how theforegoing services can be implemented is given in the Annex appearing atthe end of this description, reference being had to FIG. 2 of theaccompanying drawing that depicts a mobile location-aware service beingprovided to a mobile entity 20 via a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN)10.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a method ofassociating location data with image recordings, comprising the stepsof:

(a)—using a camera to take a number of image recordings;

(b)—in association with taking each of at least some of said imagerecordings, using a mobile device that is operatively associated with amobile radio infrastructure and separate from the camera, to provide, ortrigger the provision of, a location data item indicative of thelocation at which the image recording was taken;

(c)—storing, in a store connected with the mobile radio infrastructure,the location data items obtained in step (b);

(d)—subsequently retrieving the location data items from said store anduniting each location data item with the corresponding image recordings.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of associating location data with image recordings, comprisingthe steps of:

(a)—using a camera to take a number of image recordings that aredistinguished from each other by an implicit or explicitlocation-independent reference associated with each;

(b)—in association with taking each of at least some of said imagerecordings, using a mobile device that is operatively associated with amobile radio infrastructure and separate from the camera, to provide, ortrigger the provision of, location data indicative of the location atwhich the image recording was taken;

(c)—storing, in a store connected with the mobile radio infrastructure,the location data obtained in step (b) together with implicit orexplicit indexes for matching with the reference associated with thecorresponding image recording;

(d)—subsequently uniting the location data with the corresponding imagerecordings by a correlation process using said references and indexes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way ofnon-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammaticdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a known map-based photographic album system;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a known communications infrastructure usable fortransferring voice and data to/from a mobile entity;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an electronic photographic album system showingthe five operating modes of an album program;

FIG. 4 shows the fields of a photo record and group record of the FIG. 3system;

FIG. 5 shows state data items maintained by the album program of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 shows a typical display output during a “Catalogue” operatingmode of the FIG. 3 system;

FIG. 7 shows a typical display output during a “Map View” operating modeof the FIG. 3 system;

FIG. 8 shows a typical display output during a “Photo Show” operatingmode of the FIG. 3 system;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the transfer of location data from acell phone to a digital camera;

FIG. 10 is a state diagram for the location-data transfer process ofFIG. 6;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the transfer of camera image data viaa cell phone and a PLMN to a PC running the FIG. 3 album program, theimage data being location stamped with the cell phone location duringtransfer;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the independent transfer of image data andlocation data to a PC running the FIG. 3 album program;

FIG. 13 is a state diagram of a location log function of a mobile entityequipped with location discovery means;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the main steps of the Load andCatalogue operating modes of the FIG. 3 album program in the case ofimage data and location data being separately provided;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the matching of location data toimages by matching patterns of timestamps;

FIGS. 16A-D show a user-effected correction of mismatched sequences ofimages and location data; and

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the recording of the location of desiredbut not taken photos and the subsequent retrieval of matching images.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 3 depicts a photo system in which a digital camera 3 provided withlocation determining means (such as a GPS receiver) is used to generatedigital photos 4, each photo (also referred to as ‘image data’) 4 beingstamped with location data indicating where the photo was taken. Otherdata may also be associated with each photo, such as a timestamp, acamera ID, and a user ID; such associated data (including the locationdata) is herein referred to as photo meta data. The photos and theirmeta data are downloaded by any suitable means (USB connection,removable storage device, etc) into a PC 5 where an album program 50serves to store the photos in a photo store 7 and the photo meta data ina meta-data database 9 (each photo and its meta data being linked by asuitable key associated with both). The album program also has access toa map store 8. The stores 7 and 8 and the meta-data database can be onthe PC or external.

The album program enables users to catalogue, manage and view theirphotos through a map-based interface, the photos being represented on adisplayed map by a marker indicating the location they were taken.

More particularly, the album program comprises five main operating modes51 to 55 and a user can move between these modes or quit the program bymaking an appropriate choice (for example, by soft keys displayed on thePC display). FIG. 3 indicates for each mode the main choices availableto the user (for example, the label “View” in Start Up Mode block 51indicates that the user can choose to change to the View Map Mode 54.The role of each operating mode is as follows:

Start Up Mode 51—This is the initial mode upon start up of the albumprogram and it permits a user to select either the Load Mode or the MapView Mode, or to quit the program.

Load Mode 52—In this mode, the user can download data from camera 3;when the user has finished, he/she indicates this (see the “Done” label)and the mode changes either to the Catalogue Mode 53 if any photos havebeen loaded, or back to the Start Up Mode 51 if no photos were loaded.

Catalogue Mode 53—In this mode, the user can manage newly loaded photosusing a map based display, this management including assigning them toone or more groups (sets of related photos). From this mode, the usercan move back to the Load mode to load more photos or to the View Mapmode for browsing the photo album; the user may also choose to quit theprogram.

Map View Mode—The Map View Mode 54 is the mode in which a user canbrowse the album and select photos for viewing. Browsing is on the basisof displaying maps with the location of photos indicated. From the MapView 54, a user can move to the Load, Photo Show, or Catalogue Modes orquit the program.

Photo Show Mode—In this mode, the user can view a photo selected in theMap View Mode; the user can also step through a series of relatedphotos. From the Photo Show Mode, the user returns to the Map View Mode.

FIG. 4 shows the meta data record 56 held in database 9 for each photo,it being appreciated that some of the fields may be empty for anyparticular photo. The fields comprise:

Album ID—This is a unique identifier for the album.

Camera ID—This is a camera identifier that maybe either suppliedautomatically by the camera in the photo meta data or added by the userwhen downloading photos.

User ID—This is a user ID which again may be either suppliedautomatically by the camera in the photo meta data or added by the userwhen downloading photos.

Photo ID—This is a unique photo ID provided by the album program and canconveniently be made up of a load batch number (a new batch number beingassigned for each session of downloading data from a camera) and anumber-in-batch identifying the photo from others in the same batch.

Accession Date—This is the data of loading of the photo by the albumprogram (photos in the same batch will have the same accession date).

Location Data—The location data provided with the photo by camera 3.

Date/Time Taken—The timestamp data provided with the photo by camera 3.

Short Title—A short descriptor of the photo provided by the user.

Description—A fuller user-provided description of the photo.

Semantic Loc.—A user-meaningful location description (e.g. Eiffel Tower)as opposed to the coordinates provided by the location data. This fieldoverlaps in intent with the two preceding fields and is optional.

With respect to user ID, where this is supplied automatically by thecamera, the user ID will have been set into the camera at some stage bythe user. The camera can be provided with suitable means for enablingeach of several users to set in their ID at every usage and/or the meansfor enabling several different users to set in and store their IDs witheach such user selecting their ID from the stored IDs each time thatuser starts to use the camera; input of ID data can conveniently be doneby transfer from a computer thereby avoiding the need for an inputkeypad associated with the camera. Alternatively, the camera can bepre-programmed with a set list of identifiers (numbers, icons, colours,animal types, etc) and users choose which identifiers to employ todistinguish amongst them; in this case, the camera simply needs to beprovided with input means for enabling a user to select their identifierfrom the programmed list of identifiers. Thus, a camera intended forfamily use may have pre-programmed animal icons as identifiers with themother and father choosing, for example, icons of a dog and cat andtheir three children choosing lion, tiger and rabbit icons respectively.Of course, to handle cases where icon identifiers are used, the albumprogram is preferably adapted to store and manage user IDs of this form.

The database 9 also holds group records 57 each relating to a group ofuser associated photographs. Each group record comprises a group name,an indicator of a group icon to be used to represent the group, a briefdescription of the group, and a linked list of the IDs of photos makingup the group. A photo can reside in non, one or more group.

FIG. 5 shows the main state data items 59 maintained by the albumprogram so that it knows what operational point it has reached and howto restore itself to certain prior conditions as necessary. These dataitems comprise:

Current Mode—The current operating mode.

Previous Mode—The previous operating mode, if any. This is required whenabout to enter the Map View mode from the Catalogue Mode—if the user ismerely returning to the Map View Mode after having gone into theCatalogue Mode (for example, to change meta data about a photo), thenthe user will expect to return to the same map and display as beforewhereas if the user is entering the Map View Mode from the CatalogueMode after having catalogued a newly loaded set of photos, the user willhave different expectations.

Current Photo—This is the currently selected photo, if any. The selectedphoto may be one currently be displayed in full or merely represented byan icon or thumbnail.

Current Batch—The batch number of the current batch of photos or, wherephotos from more than one batch are being examined, then the batchnumber of any currently selected photo.

Current Group—The currently selected group, if any.

Filter Details—Details of any filter being applied to the selection ofphotos in the Map View and Photo Show Modes.

Most recent:

Map View map—The most recently viewed Map View Mode map (including areadisplayed)

Catalogue map—The most recently viewed Catalogue Mode map (includingarea displayed)

Other features of the album program will be described below as part ofthe description of a typical sequence of operation.

A user with photos to download to the album program starts the programand chooses the “Load” option presented by the Start Up Mode programcode. The Load Mode interacts with the user to enable the downloading ofphotos and meta data from the camera 3, photo ID data (Batch andnumber-in-batch) and accession date being automatically added by theprogram to the meta data of each photo. The user may also be enabled toadd in user ID data for the whole batch, overriding any such data comingfrom the camera. Upon termination of loading, the user selects “Done”and the album program automatically progresses to the Catalogue Mode toenable the user to carry out cataloguing functions in relation to thenewly-loaded batch of photos.

In the Catalogue Mode, the album program generates a display of the formshown in FIG. 6 comprising a central map area 61, left and right marginareas 62A, 62B and upper and lower control bars. The map displayed inmap area 61 is sufficient to encompass the locations registered for thenewly loaded batch of photos. A thumbnail 63 of each new photo is shownin one or other of the margin areas 62A,B and a lead line 65 connectseach thumbnail 63 to a corresponding marker 64 showing on the map thelocation where the photo was taken. The use of margins to show thethumbnails and lead lines to indicate the corresponding map locations ispreferred as being less cluttered than trying to place the thumbnailsdirectly in the correct locations on the map.

The upper control bar comprises three controls 66, 67, 68 that provideaccess to the following functionality, generally in respect of apre-selected photo (this pre-selection being effected by clicking on thecorresponding thumbnail):

Show Photo Control 66—this displays the photo corresponding to aselected thumbnail 63, with return to the Catalogue map being effectedby a mouse click;

Edit Photo Details Control 67—this displays the record details 56 of aselected thumbnail and enables editing of these details;

Group Control 68—this control permits groups to be created, and a phototo be assigned to one or more groups (the photo ID being added into thegroup record 57).

The group control comprises a drop-down box 68A operated by controlelement 68B, the box normally displaying a currently selected group, ifany. The user may cause the box to drop down (by clicking on controlelement 68B) to show a list of available groups from which the user canselect one, this list also including an option to create a new group.Selecting this latter option takes the user to a creation screen wherethe user enters details of the new group. The details of a currentlyselected group can also be brought up for editing by operating (clickingon) control element 68C. To assign a photo to the current group, thecorresponding thumbnail is selected and then the “Apply” control element68D is operated. Preferably, double clicking the “Apply” control givesthe mouse cursor the “Apply” power so that any thumbnail selected usingthe cursor is assigned to the current group (clicking on the Applyelement again removes this power).

By way of example, a user may decide to create a group for photos takenon a particular holiday or a group for all photos related to a currentor past abode. The group icon can be selected from a set of availableicons or created by the user. Thus a current-abode group may have ahouse icon as its group icon whilst a holiday in London may berepresented by a Tower Bridge icon.

The lower control bar includes a zoom control 69 that enables a user tozoom in or out around a particular point on the displayed map. Moreparticularly, to zoom in on a target point, the “+” element of control69 is selected, the display cursor placed on the target point andclicked. The “+” and “−” elements effect stepped, progressive, zooming;in contrast, the “Full In” element goes straight to closest zoom on atarget point whilst “Full Out” returns to the original map displayencompassing all of the newly loaded photos.

Controls 70, 71 and 72 respectively enable a user to change to the LoadMode, change to the Map View Mode, and Quit the program.

The album program is preferably operative to accept photos for whichthere is no meta data, including no location data. In this case, thecorresponding meta data record initially only contains thealbum-generated data (Photo ID, accession data), and the Catalogue Modeis arranged to represent these photos but without lead line or locationmarker until such a time as the user enters location data into thelocation field of the photo record 56 either directly or by a facilityfor adding this data by pointing to a location on the map display.

Once a user has famished editing the photo meta data and assigning thephotos to groups, the user may decide to browse the album andaccordingly operates the “View” control 71. FIG. 7 depicts a typical MapView Mode display; for ease of understanding, the same references havebeen used on corresponding elements appearing in the Catalogue Mode andMap View Mode.

The starting map displayed in the Map View Mode is, for example, a worldmap or a map encompassing the locations of all the photos recorded inthe album; alternatively, the map displayed could be the same map asbeing used in the Catalogue Mode before transiting to the Map View Mode.Initially, all photos relevant to the starting map will be representedeither as thumbnails 81, individual photo icons 80, group icons (seecurrent-abode group icon 85), or concentration icons (see icon 82). Aconcentration icon represents a number of photos that are not in acommon group but were taken in the same general area and cannot beindividually represented at the current map display resolution; the areaconcerned can be represented by a bounding circle 83. Where aconcentration icon only encompasses photos that belong to a commongroup, the concentration icon is replaced by the group icon. Similarly,where a concentration icon encompasses at least a threshold number (e.g.5) of photos that belong to a common group but other photos as well,then the group icon is shown alongside the concentration icon. If thethreshold is crossed for several groups then each group icon will beshown (in determining whether the threshold is crossed, if a photobelongs to more than one group, it is counted towards the threshold foreach group).

Zooming in and out is controlled by the same control 69 as alreadydescribed for the catalogue Mode. If zooming in permits the photos of aconcentration to be represented individually then this is done, thephotos being collapsed back to a concentration icon and/or group icon onzooming back out. Scrolling the map display left, right, up or down iseffected by scroll control 75 (or else scroll bars can be used).

To minimise clutter, a user may set an option (through a “customisemenu”, not shown) by which all photos of a group are initiallyrepresented by the corresponding group icon even if there is room todisplay the thumbnails of the group photos encompassed by the currentlydisplayed map. In this case, the group icon is displayed with itslocation marker at the location of a user-specified one of the photos ofthe group (to implement this, a further group-control element “setleader” can be provided which, when activated, would store the photo IDof a currently-selected photo into an extra field of the group record ofthe current group, the location of this photo being the “location” ofthe group). To give access to the individual photos of a group, one orboth of the following mechanisms can be used:

Single clicking on a group icon brings up a scrollable list of thephotos in the group (preferably with date taken information and shorttitle). Mouse rollover of a photo entry in the list causes the locationmarker of that photo to be displayed on the Map View (the photo'sthumbnail can either be shown in the scrollable list all the time thelist is displayed, or adjacent its location marker but only whilst thelatter is displayed); moving the mouse cursor off the entry causes thelocation marker to disappear. Clicking the list entry causes thethumbnail to be inserted into a margin area with a lead line to acorresponding location marker on the map, this thumbnail being retainedfollowing closure of the group photo list. A variant of the above is tohave display of the list accompanied by display of location markers forall the group photos encompassed by the current map—rollover of a listentry would then highlight the relevant location marker.

double clicking on a group icon unpacks the group and causes its photosto be represented as individual photos (or in concentrations).

Generally, whenever a particular photo is selected (for example, byclicking on it) the name of the related group (if any) is displayed inthe group control element 68A—if a photo belongs to more than one group,these groups are viewable by opening up the dropdown box using control68B. The details of the selected photo can then be viewed (but notedited) by operating control 78 or the photo viewed by operating ShowPhoto control 74 which causes the mode to switch to the Photo Show Mode.The details of the current group, if any, can be viewed by operating theview group control 68E.

Filter control 76 enables a user to select which photos are to berepresented on the map display. Selection criteria can, for example,include one or more of the following:

Date range of when the photo was taken;

User ID

Camera ID

Group name

Batch ID

Accession date

Key word in short title/description/semantic location.

Access to a particular's user's photos can be password protected

If the user wishes to edit the details of a photo or group, the usermust select the relevant photo and return to the Catalogue Mode; the mapand photos displayed in the Catalogue will be those of the same batch asthe selected photo.

FIG. 8 shows the Photo View Mode display brought up by clicking the ShowPhoto control 74 in the Map View Mode when a photo is selected. A fullsize image 79 of the photo is displayed and the user can view the photoand group details using the controls 67 and 68 respectively.Furthermore, a control 77 permits the user to view related photos in thesame group (if photo is in more than one group, this will be the groupappearing at the top of the dropdown box 68A, a different group beingselectable by dropping down the group list); the group photos areaccessed, for example, in date/time of taking order. If a photo is notassociated with a group, then the album program permits photos of thesame batch to be viewed, ordered by number.

The provision of suitable program code for implementing theabove-described event-driven functionality is within the competence ofpersons skilled in the art. A similar map-based album to that describedabove can also be used to classify and access other types of recordingsuch as sound recordings, video recordings etc. Where the data isnon-visual, the thumbnails and full-sized photo image representations ofthe above-described electronic photo album will be replaced by thecorresponding representations for the recording concerned.

Uniting Location and Recording Data—at the Time of Generation

Of course, the vast majority of current cameras are not provided withlocation determining means. Nevertheless the foregoing map-based albumcan still be built up provided the user can activate a locationdetermining device whilst located at the place a recording is being/hasbeen/is about to be, made. In the near future, many location-determiningdevices (such as GPS devices) will be widely deployed; potentially moresignificantly, location services will become widely available to usersof mobile phones (see the Annex to this specification which describesthe mobile radio infrastructure and the provision of location-basedservices using such an infrastructure).

Thus it will become relatively easy for someone taking a photo to findout their location using their mobile phone. However what isadditionally needed is some way of uniting this location informationwith the photographs.

One way of doing this is illustrated in FIG. 9 where a digital camera 90is provided with a communications link to receive location data from amobile entity 20 (here shown as a mobile phone, by way of example). Moreparticularly, camera 90 comprises optics 91, sensor array 92, imageprocessing block 99, control block 93, memory 94 for storing photo imagedata 95, and a communications interface 96. Cell phone 20 comprises, aswell as its radio subsystem 22, a data handling subsystem 23, andcommunications interface 97. Interfaces 96 and 97 are compatible,enabling the camera 90 and cell phone 20 to inter-communicate;interfaces 96 and 97 are, for example, suitable for establishing aninfrared or short-range radio link between the camera and cell phone.

Cell phone 20 also includes location-discovery means 29 by which thecell phone can ascertain its location, this location discovery beingeffected when control 28 (hard or soft button) is operated by the user.The location discovery means is, for example, a program run by the datahandling subsystem for requesting location information from a locationserver of the mobile radio infrastructure; however, the locationdiscovery means could alternatively be a GPS system built into the cellphone. Whatever form the location discovery means takes, when button 28is operated, location data 98 is generated and is available in the phonefor transfer to the camera 3.

The data handling subsystem runs a transfer program for transferring thelocation data over a link establish between the interfaces 96, 97. Thecontrol block 93 of the camera is operative to receive this locationdata and associate it with the last-taken photo. FIG. 10 shows atop-level state diagram of how this process is managed by associationfunctionality of control block 93. Normally the associationfunctionality resides in a state 100 in which it is ready to receivelocation data through interface 96; whilst in this state, the camera canbe used to take photographs and the association functionality remains instate 101. However, upon location data being passed from cell phone, theassociation functionality transits to state 101 in which the camera isblocked from taking a photograph. In state 101, the associationfunctionality of control block 93 receives the location data andassociates it with the last taken photo. Once this is done (and itgenerally will happen very rapidly) the association functionalityreturns to state 100.

Of course, it would also be possible to have the taking of the photo bycamera 90 trigger the location discovery by the cell phone followed bytransfer to the camera.

Another way of uniting a digital photo and location data is illustratedin FIG. 11 and involves uploading the photo image data 95 through thecell phone (via a link established between camera 90 and cell phone 20through interfaces 96 and 97), to a network store 43 of a service system40 (arrow 105 represents this transfer). The service system 40 resideseither in the mobile infrastructure or is accessible via the latter overa data-capable bearer service. En route to the store, or upon loadinginto the store, location information 98 on the mobile phone is requestedand associated with the photo image data 95; in the first case, thelocation data is obtained by the cell phone and associated with theimage data as the image data is being transferred to the store 43 whilstin the second case, a control function 42 of the store is operative torequest the location data 98 from location 41 immediately upon the imagedata being received by service system 40. Of course, this method willgenerally need to be effected for each photo immediately it is takensince otherwise the location of the cell phone may not correspond to thelocation where the photo was taken.

The foregoing methods of associating separately generated image andlocation data at around the time of generation can equally be applied toother types of recording.

Uniting Location and Recording Data—Subsequent to When Generated

In many cases, it will not be possible, for whatever reason, to link thecamera 90 with a cell phone or other available location discovery means(such as a stand-alone GPS device). For these cases, a location log canbe created for subsequent correlation with the photos being taken. Moreparticularly,

as the camera is used to take a number of photographs, the photographsas items are distinguished from each other by an implicit (e.g. sequenceposition) or explicit location-independent reference associated witheach;

in association with taking each of at least some of said photographs, amobile device that is separate from the camera and is capable ofeffecting or triggering location discovery of its position, is used togenerate location data indicative of the location at which thephotograph was taken, this location data being stored together with anindex matching the reference associated with the correspondingphotograph;

subsequently, the location data is united with the correspondingphotographs by a correlation process using said references and indexes.

The mobile device is, for example, a cellular-radio-based mobile device(phone or e.g. a PDA with mobile radio capability) capable of effectinglocation discovery such as by requesting location data from a locationserver; the mobile device may take other forms such as a standalone GPSdevice.

References can simply be position-in-sequence of photographs (in whichcase the corresponding indexes are similar ordering data).Alternatively, the references can be time-stamps—in this case, theindexes could be timestamps also (or, again, ordering data sincetimestamps are also this).

The photos can be traditional (chemical) snaps and the uniting is doneby printing labels with the location data, these labels then being stuckon the back of the snaps (preferably this location data takes the formof a map showing the location where the photo was taken)—in this case,the labels are numbered to correspond to photo numbers.

Preferably, however, the photos are digital (or digitised) and theuniting of the photos with the location information is done in a PC orother computing device as part of the album program. Processes foreffecting this uniting will be described hereinafter.

With regard to how the location data is transferred to the samecomputing device as the photo image data, a number of possibilitiesexist and FIG. 12 illustrates three such possibilities in the case wherethe mobile device is a cell phone 20. More particularly, FIG. 12 shows acamera 3 and cell phone device 20 both possessed by the same user. Thecell phone 20 communicates with mobile radio infrastructure 10. Whenevera user takes a photo he/she operates a button 28 of the cell phone tocause the cell phone to trigger a determination of its location eitherby itself or through location server 41 of the PLMN 10. A log oflocation data on each photo taken is built up. In due course the usertransfers the image data 95 from the camera 3 to computer 5 running thealbum program 50. As regards transfer of the location log to thecomputer, the following three possibilities are illustrated:

a)—location data for each photo is accumulated in a location log 100stored in the cell phone and subsequently transferred (see arrow 111)directly to the computer 5 over a wire link, infrared link orshort-range radio link.

b)—location data for each photo is accumulated in a location log 100stored in the cell phone and this log is subsequently transferred (arrow109) via a data-capable bearer service of the PLMN 10 to a store 47 (inthe PLMN or a connected network, such as the Internet). The location logis later retrieved by computer 5 from store 47 (see arrow 110).

c)—Operation of cell-phone button 28 sends a request (arrow 107) to alog-service controller 44 of a log server system 40 to obtain thelocation of cell phone from location server 41 and store it in a log 100held in store 45 of the service system, the identity of the log to beused being included in the request. The log 100 is subsequentlyretrieved by computer 5 from store 45 (see arrow 108).

The same processes as described above can being effected for other typesof recordings, the location data being separately determined andsubsequently re-united with the recording concerned. In the case of asound recording done, for example, on a tape recorder, the location datacould even be provided by a digital camera equipped with GPS.

It may be noted that giving a mobile phone the ability to store alocation log (either in the phone itself or in the mobile infrastructureor in a connected network) is itself a useful feature. Thus whilst manylocation-based services simply require a one-off provision of locationdata or continually monitor location, the ability for a user toselectively trigger location determination for storing the resultantdata to a log has value in its own right—for example, a user may wish tostore the location of places visited whilst out walking or, as describedabove may want to log the locations of photos taken. Since the user mayalso want to use other location-based services at the same time, theuser must be able to select when location information is to be logged.Further, since the user may want to log location information aboutdifferent topics, the mobile phone (or otherlocation-determination-triggering device) preferably permits a user toset up more than one log at a time and to select to which log aparticular item of location data is to be stored.

FIG. 13 shows a controlling state machine for a location-log applicationcapable of managing multiple location logs, the application running, forexample, on a data handling subsystem of a mobile entity (such as a cellphone) that has means for discovering its location either directly orfrom a location server. Selection of the application sets theapplication into a menu state 120 that presents the user with thechoices of creating a new log, using an existing log, or uploading anexisting log (for example, to network store 47 or computer 5 in the FIG.12 arrangement). If the user chooses to create a new log, state 121 isentered in which the user is asked to specify certain details about thelog (in particular, its name); in due course new log 100 is created andthe log application automatically transits to state 124 in whichlocation can be added to the log. This same state 124 is also reachedwhen the user chooses the ‘use existing log’ option from the openingmenu, the log application first entering state 122 in which the userselects from a list of existing logs, the log to be used; selection ofthe log to be used automatically moves the log application to state 124.

When in state 124, the log application responds to an external triggerto add a location to the currently-selected log, by obtaining thecurrent location of the mobile entity and logging it to the currentlyselected log together with a timestamp. The log application continues instate 124 with the same log selected until the user either quits theapplication or chooses to return to the menu state 120. The externaltrigger for adding a location can either be user input(e.g. by operatinga hard or soft button) or a command received from another device.Because the log application initiates location-data requests to thelocation providing means of the mobile entity, it is straightforward toarrange that the log application is only passed relevant location data(that is, location data it has requested) and therefore it will noterroneously log location data provided for other applications.

If the user chooses the upload option from the menu state, the logapplication transits first to a selection state 123 in which the userselects the log to be uploaded and then to an upload state 125. In theupload state the log application oversees the transfer of the selectedlocation log. Upon completion of transfer, the log application returnsto the menu state 120.

Recording a location independently of taking a photo still has relevanceto photo creation. For example, the situation may arise that a userwould like to take a photograph of a place or item but has run out offilm/on-camera storage, or is present at a time when it is not possibleto take a photograph (at night, in heavy rain or mist, etc). In suchcases, the user can record their location in their photo location logand subsequently retrieve from the Web (or other photo archive) aphotograph similar to that the user wanted to take.

Where a camera is provided with location discovery means 29 for locationstamping photos (see camera 90 in FIG. 17), the control means 93 of thecamera, when activated by user operation of input control 98, can bearranged to enable additional location information 98 to be stored inmemory 94 without the need to actually record image data 95; thispermits the camera to log the location of desired but untaken photos.The location data that is recorded independently of taking a photo(‘independent location data’), is preferably stored in sequence withlocation data associated with photos actually taken (‘recorded-photolocation data’); thus, for example, the independent location data can betreated as a normal ‘image+location’ data item with zero image data (seeitem 175). Alternatively, the independent location data can be stored inits own log separate from the recorded-photo location data.

Matching Separately-Generated Image and Location Data

In order to accommodate the separate provision of image data andlocation data, the album program 50 described above with reference toFIGS. 3-8 is adapted as depicted in FIG. 14. More particularly, the LoadMode is adapted to independently load the image data and the locationdata (block 141), the data loaded from the camera being handled asbefore but without the location data field being filled in on each photometa-data record 56 whilst the location data is temporarily stored in alog identified as related to the batch of photos concerned.

The Catalogue Mode is now split into two operating phases in the firstof which the image data and location data are correlated (blocks 142 to144), the second phase being the grouping and details-editing stage thatformed the original Catalogue Mode. With regard to the first phase, thisinvolves an automatic correlation process (block 142), followed by auser-directed correlation adjustment process (block 143); the resultantcorrelation of image and location data is then committed for storage bythe user (block 144) at which time the location data field of each photometa-data record is updated and the separate location log deleted.

In the event that the location log includes desired-but-not-taken photolocation data, there is an additional process (see dotted block 146)between blocks 143 and 144 in which the user is given the option offetching (or initiating an automatic fetch of) photo image data from theInternet to match the location concerned. This process is depicted inFIG. 17 where desired image data is supplied (arrow 172) by aspecialised service 174 set up to provide such image data in response torequests (arrow 171). Preferably, where automatic fetching isimplemented, more than one photograph will be retrieved on the basis oflocation, the user then being presented with a choice of third-partyphotos to add to the user's own photo album. As a preliminary step tofetching one or more photographs, the user can be presented with adetailed map 147 of the area around the desired-but-not-taken photolocation 148—the user can then specify approximately what subject/view149 they are interested in (the location data by itself not indicating,for example, the direction in which the user was looking when thelocation was logged or whether the user was interested in a near fieldobject or a far view). The user can specify the view of interest by, forexample, clicking a target point or defining a target area on the mapdisplay. The information derived from the user is passed with therequest for retrieving relevant photos.

The user may, in fact, decide to defer fetching image data until laterin which case the act of committing the existing correlation in block144 also causes the creation of a photo meta-data record for thedesired-but-not-taken photo and such ghost photos will be subsequentlyrepresented in the displays of FIGS. 6 and 7 by “?” icons; clicking onsuch an icon can be arranged to initiate, at least in the CatalogueMode, the process for fetching an appropriate image.

Considering now the automatic matching process of block 142, oneefficient way of doing this is by time-stamping digital photos in thecamera and time-stamping the location data that is separately created atthe same time (approximately) in a different device. Because differentclocks are used for the two time stamps, absolute time is not reliablefor matching the location data with the photo image data. However, thepattern of timestamps (i.e. time-interval related data) can be used toperform a match. This remains true even when there are additionalentries in either the batch of photos or the location log that have nocounterpart in the other collection. FIG. 15 shows an example in which atimestamp sequence 150 of a batch of eight photos is to be matchedagainst a timestamp sequence 151 of a location log with seven entries.The individual photo timestamps are represented by marks 152 whilst theindividual location timestamps are represented by marks 151. As can beseen, it is a relatively easy matter to match up the two patterns oftimestamps notwithstanding that there are two time-stamped photos 154for which there are no corresponding location entries and onetime-stamped location 155 for which there is no corresponding photo(this may be because the location corresponds to a desired-but-not-takenphoto location). Appropriate pattern matching techniques for effectingthe automatic matching of the timestamp sequences 150, 151 are wellknown to persons skilled in the art.

The same approach could be used for matching other types of auxiliarydata (and not just location data—for example sound clip data) withphotos; again, the matching process can be used with any type ofrecording, not just photos.

As already noted, matching can also be done on the basis of sequencenumber and this can be done even where the photos are only physicalitems—in this case, the location data is printed out on numberedself-adhesive labels than can be stuck to the back of the correspondingphotos.

Returning to matching location data and photos in the album program 150,whilst using sequence numbers, for example, seems an easy way to matchup a set of photos with a corresponding set of location-data items, itis quite likely that there will be additions/omissions in one set ascompared to the other. As a result the match between the sets will beimperfect. Mismatching may also arise where other correlation keys (thatis, not sequence position) are used. However, it may generally beassumed that the ordering of entries is the same for both sets.

To correct the match up, a user must intervene and manually correcterroneous associations between entries in the two sets—this being thepurpose of the process represented by block 143 in FIG. 14. Thisadjustment process can conveniently be done by generating a CatalogueMode display such as shown in FIG. 6 on the basis of the matchingachieved after running the automatic match process of block 142 (whereimplemented), or else simply by pairing off photos with location-dataitems in sequence order until one of the sets (photos; location-dataitems) runs out. In the resultant display, lead lines 65 connect photothumbnails 63 with location markers 64 on the map. To correct anerroneous association, a user drags the map end of the relevant leadline 65 to the correct location marker 64 on the map—or drags the photoend of the lead line to the correct photo (or simply clicks on thematching entries in turn).

To minimize the number of times this needs to be done, use is made ofthe consistency of the ordering of both sets—in particular, theassociations of photos and location data for entries later in theorderings than a just-corrected association, are re-matched taking intoaccount the corrected association. If these entries include an alreadycorrected association, this latter is not disturbed. This feature isillustrated in FIGS. 16A-D where:

FIG. 16A—shows an initial matching of a set of photos 160 with a set oflocation-data items 161, the photos and location-data-items being pairedoff until the location-data item set is exhausted.

FIG. 16B—user determines that the third location-data item 165 isactually associated with the fifth photo 166 and corrects theassociation accordingly; this results in a re-pairing of alllocation-data items subsequent to the item 165 with photos subsequent tophoto 166 as illustrated

FIG. 16C—similarly, user determines that the seventh location-data item167 is actually associated with the tenth photo 166 and corrects theassociation accordingly; this results in a re-pairing of alllocation-data items subsequent to the item 167 with photos subsequent tophoto 168 as illustrated.

FIG. 16D—user now decides that the second location-data item 169 shouldbe associated with the third photo 170 and corrects the associationaccordingly; no consequential downstream adjustments are made since thenext association is one previously established by the user (betweenlocation data item 165 and photo 166).

It will be appreciated that the match-adjustment process described abovewith reference to FIG. 16 can be used to associate location data withother types of recordings.

ANNEX A—Mobile Radio Infrastructure; Location Determination

This Annex forms an integral part of the specification.

Communication infrastructures suitable for mobile users (in particular,though not exclusively, cellular radio infrastructures) have now becomewidely adopted. Whilst the primary driver has been mobile telephony, thedesire to implement mobile data-based services over theseinfrastructures, has led to the rapid development of data-capable bearerservices across such infrastructures. This has opened up the possibilityof many Internet-based services being available to mobile users.

By way of example, FIG. 2 shows one form of known communicationinfrastructure for mobile users providing both telephony and data-bearerservices. In this example, a mobile entity 20, provided with a radiosubsystem 22 and a phone subsystem 23, communicates with the fixedinfrastructure of GSM PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) 10 to providebasic voice telephony services. In addition, the mobile entity 20includes a data-handling subsystem 25 inter-working, via data interface24, with the radio subsystem 22 for the transmission and reception ofdata over a data-capable bearer service provided by the PLMN; thedata-capable bearer service enables the mobile entity 20 to communicatewith a service system 40 connected to the public Internet 39. The datahandling subsystem 25 supports an operating environment 26 in whichapplications run, the operating environment including an appropriatecommunications stack.

More particularly, the fixed infrastructure 10 of the GSM PLMN comprisesone or more Base Station Subsystems (BSS) 11 and a Network and SwitchingSubsystem NSS 12. Each BSS 11 comprises a Base Station Controller (BSC)14 controlling multiple Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) 13 eachassociated with a respective “cell” of the radio network. When active,the radio subsystem 22 of the mobile entity 20 communicates via a radiolink with the BTS 13 of the cell in which the mobile entity is currentlylocated. As regards the NSS 12, this comprises one or more MobileSwitching Centers (MSC) 15 together with other elements such as VisitorLocation Registers 32 and Home Location Register 32.

When the mobile entity 20 is used to make a normal telephone call, atraffic circuit for carrying digitised voice is set up through therelevant BSS 11 to the NSS 12 which is then responsible for routing thecall to the target phone (whether in the same PLMN or in anothernetwork).

With respect to data transmission to/from the mobile entity 20, in thepresent example three different data-capable bearer services aredepicted though other possibilities exist. A first data-capable bearerservice is available in the form of a Circuit Switched Data (CSD)service; in this case a full traffic circuit is used for carrying dataand the MSC 32 routes the circuit to an Inter-Working Function IWF 34the precise nature of which depends on what is connected to the otherside of the IWF. Thus, IWF could be configured to provide direct accessto the public Internet 39 (that is, provide functionality similar to anIAP—Internet Access Provider IAP). Alternatively, the IWF could simplybe a modem connecting to a PSTN; in this case, Internet access can beachieved by connection across the PSTN to a standard LAP.

A second, low bandwidth, data-capable bearer service is availablethrough use of the Short Message Service that passes data carried insignalling channel slots to an SMS unit which can be arranged to provideconnectivity to the public Internet 39.

A third data-capable bearer service is provided in the form of GPRS(General Packet Radio Service which enables IP (or X.25) packet data tobe passed from the data handling system of the mobile entity 20, via thedata interface 24, radio subsystem 21 and relevant BSS 11, to a GPRSnetwork 17 of the PLMN 10 (and vice versa). The GPRS network 17 includesa SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) 18 interfacing BSC 14 with thenetwork 17, and a GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) interfacing thenetwork 17 with an external network (in this example, the publicInternet 39). Full details of GPRS can be found in the ETSI (EuropeanTelecommunications Standards Institute) GSM 03.60 specification. UsingGPRS, the mobile entity 20 can exchange packet data via the BSS 11 andGPRS network 17 with entities connected to the public Internet 39.

The data connection between the PLMN 10 and the Internet 39 willgenerally be through a firewall 35 with proxy and/or gatewayfunctionality.

Different data-capable bearer services to those described above may beprovided, the described services being simply examples of what ispossible.

In FIG. 2, a service system 40 is shown connected to the Internet 40,this service system being accessible to the OS/application 26 running inthe mobile entity by use of any of the data-capable bearer servicesdescribed above. The data-capable bearer services could equally provideaccess to a service system that is within the domain of the PLMNoperator or is connected to another public or private data network.

With regard to the OS/application software 26 running in the datahandling subsystem 25 of the mobile entity 20, this could, for example,be a WAP application running on top of a WAP stack where “WAP” is theWireless Application Protocol standard. Details of WAP can be found, forexample, in the book “Official Wireless Application Protocol” WirelessApplication Protocol Forum, Ltd published 1999 Wiley ComputerPublishing. Where the OS/application software is WAP compliant, thefirewall will generally also serve as a WAP proxy and gateway. Ofcourse, OS/application 26 can comprise other functionality (for example,an e-mail client) instead of, or additional to, the WAP functionality.

The mobile entity 20 may take many different forms. For example, itcould be two separate units such as a mobile phone (providing elements22-24) and a mobile PC (data-handling system 25) coupled by anappropriate link (wire-line, infrared or even short range radio systemsuch as Bluetooth). Alternatively, mobile entity 20 could be a singleunit such as a mobile phone with WAP functionality. Of course, if onlydata transmission/reception is required (and not voice), the phonefunctionality 24 can be omitted; an example of this is a PDA withbuilt-in GSM data-capable functionality whilst another example is adigital camera (the data-handling subsystem) also with built-in GSMdata-capable functionality enabling the upload of digital images fromthe camera to a storage server.

As regards the service provided by the service system 40, this can be alocation-aware service (also known as a “location-based” or“location-dependent” service), being a service that takes account of thecurrent location of the mobile entity 20. The most basic form of thisservice is the emergency location service whereby a user in trouble canpress a panic button on their mobile phone to send an emergencyrequest-for-assistance message with their location data appended.Another well known location-based service is the provision of trafficand route-guiding information to vehicle drivers based on their currentposition. A further known service is a “yellow pages” service where auser can find out about amenities (shops, restaurants, theatres, etc.)local to their current location.

Location-aware services all require user location as an input parameter.A number of methods already exist for determining the location of amobile user as represented by an associated mobile equipment. Inaddition to location discovery systems based on GPS (Global PositioningSystem), there exist a number of other systems the most notable of whichare those that rely on cellular radio infrastructures. Moreparticularly, within a PLMN coverage area, it is possible to get areasonably accurate fix on the location of a mobile entity by measuringtiming and/or directional parameters between the mobile entity andmultiple BTSs 13, these measurement being done either in the network orthe mobile entity (see, for example, International Application WO99/04582 that describes various techniques for effecting locationdetermination in the mobile and WO 99/55114 that describes locationdetermination by the mobile network in response to requests made bylocation-aware applications to a mobile location center—server—of themobile network).

FIG. 2 depicts the case of location determination being done in thenetwork, for example, by making Timing Advance measurements for threeBTSs 13 and using these measurements to derive location (this derivationtypically being done in a unit associated with BSC 14). The resultantlocation data is passed to a location server 41 from where it can bemade available to authorised services. Thus, when the mobile entity 20wishes to invoke a location-aware service available on service system40, it sends a request to service system 40 via a data-capable bearerservice of the PLMN 10 and the internet 39; this request includes anauthorisation token and the mobile entity ID (possible embedded in thetoken). The service system then uses the authorisation token to obtainthe current location of the mobile entity 20G from the location server41 (the location server 41 will probably not be holding current locationdata for the mobile entity 20 and will need to request the appropriateBSC to determine this data before returning it to the service system40). The use of an authorisation token is unnecessary if the service hasbeen prior authorised to the location service by the mobile entity. Ofcourse, as an alternative to having the service obtain location datafrom the location server 41, the mobile entity could have requested itslocation from the location server and then included this information inthe request to the location-aware service running on service system 40.

Whilst the above description has been given with reference to a PLMNbased on GSM technology, it will be appreciated that many other cellularradio technologies exist and can typically provide the same type offunctionality as described for the GSM PLMN 10.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of associating location data with imagerecordings, comprising the steps of: (a)—using a camera to take a numberof image recordings that are stored in a camera memory, and inassociation with taking each of at least some of said image recordings,using a mobile device that is substantially co-located with the cameraand is operatively associated with a mobile radio infrastructure but notwith the camera, to provide, or trigger the provision of, a locationdata item indicative of the location at which the image recording wastaken, the location data items being passed independently of the imagerecordings to a store connected with the mobile radio infrastructurewhere they are held in a location log, (b)—subsequently transferring theimage recordings from the camera memory to data-handling apparatus,separately transferring the location log from said store to theapparatus, and using the apparatus to unite for the first time eachlocation data item in the downloaded log with the correspondingdownloaded image recordings.
 2. A method according to claim 1, whereinin step (a) the location data items are generated at the mobile device,and the location log is temporarily stored in the mobile device beforebeing uploaded over the mobile radio infrastructure to said store.
 3. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein in step (a) the location data itemsare provided by a location server of the mobile radio infrastructure andpassed to the mobile device where they are temporarily stored in thelocation log before the latter is uploaded over the mobile radioinfrastructure to said store.
 4. A method according to claim 1, whereinin step (a) the location data items are provided by a location server ofthe mobile radio infrastructure and passed to said store without beinghandled by the mobile device.
 5. A method according to claim 1, whereinthe order of taking of the image recordings and of provision of thelocation data items is used in step (b) to unite the corresponding imagerecordings and location data items.
 6. A method according to claim 1,wherein the image recordings and location data items are separatelytime-stamped and these timestamps are used in step (b) to unite thecorresponding image recordings and location data items.
 7. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a cellular mobilephone.
 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein in step (b) thelocation data items are retrieved from said store over the Internet. 9.A method of associating location data with image recordings, comprisingthe steps of: (a)—using a camera to take a number of image recordingsthat are distinguished from each other by an implicit or explicitlocation-independent reference associated with each, the imagerecordings being stored in the camera; (b)—in association with takingeach of at least some of said image recordings, using a mobile devicethat is operatively associated with a mobile radio infrastructure butnot with the camera, to provide, or trigger the provision of, locationdata indicative of the location at which the image recording was taken,the location data items being passed independently of the imagerecordings to a store connected with the mobile radio infrastructurewhere they are held in a location log together with implicit or explicitindexes for matching with the reference associated with thecorresponding image recording; (c)—subsequently transferring the imagerecordings with said associated references from the camera todata-handling apparatus, separately transferring the location log to thedata-handling apparatus, and uniting for the first time the locationdata with the corresponding image recordings by a correlation processusing said references and indexes.
 10. A method of associating locationdata with image recordings, comprising the steps of: (a)—using a camerato take a number of image recordings; (b)—in association with takingeach of at least some of said image recordings, using a mobile devicethat is operatively associated with a mobile radio infrastructure andseparate from the camera, to provide, or trigger the provision of, alocation data item indicative of the location at which the imagerecording was taken; (c)—storing, in a store connected with the mobileradio infrastructure, the location data items obtained in step (b);(d)—subsequently retrieving the location data items from said store anduniting each location data item with the corresponding image recordingsby printing out the location data items to provide separatelocation-data-item labels that are then physically associated with hardcopy versions of the corresponding image recordings.
 11. A methodaccording to claim 10, wherein in step (a) the image recordings arephoto-chemical recordings.
 12. Apparatus comprising: a data store; afirst transfer arrangement for downloading image recordings andassociated references from a camera for storage in said store, saidreferences being implicit or explicit location-independent referencesthat distinguish the recordings from each other; a second transferarrangement for downloading, from a service-provider system of acommunications infrastructure and separately from the downloading of theimage recordings, a location log for storage in said store, the locationlog comprising location-data items together with implicit or explicitindexes for matching with the references associated with the imagerecordings; and a correlation arrangement for uniting the downloadedlocation-data items with corresponding ones of the downloaded imagerecordings by a correlation process using said references and indexes.13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the ordering of the imagerecordings and of the location-data items respectively comprises saidreferences and said indexes.
 14. Apparatus according to claim 12,wherein the references comprise timestamps associated with the imagerecordings, and the indexes comprise timestamps associated with thelocation-data items.
 15. A computer program product comprising acomputer program stored on a storage medium and arranged when executingon a computer to condition the computer to provide: a first transferarrangement for downloading image recordings and associated referencesfrom a camera for storage in a store of the computer, said referencesbeing implicit or explicit location-independent references thatdistinguish the recordings from each other; a second transferarrangement for downloading, from a service-provider system of acommunications infrastructure and separately from the downloading of theimage recordings, a location log for storage in said store, the locationlog comprising location-data items together with implicit or explicitindexes for matching with the references associated with the imagerecordings; and a correlation arrangement for uniting the downloadedlocation-data items with corresponding ones of the downloaded imagerecordings by a correlation process using said references and indexes.